Twisted Metal development studio Eat Sleep Play has laid off part of its workforce, while co-founder and industry veteran David Jaffe is reportedly leaving the company.

The Salt Lake City-based company has finished development of Twisted Metal, which is due for release next week -- a game which Jaffe says is "meant to engage your brain."

However, the Salt Lake Tribune newspaper reports that Eat Sleep Play has laid off eight of its employees, while also switching to development of mobile games rather than console games as it has produced previously. Gamasutra has contacted Eat Sleep Play to confirm the details of the layoffs.

Company co-founder Scott Campbell explained the attraction of games on mobiles. "It's a platform that is in our pockets almost 24/7," he said. "It's kind of the size and types of games we're playing... You can certainly reach a lot more people. Thatís pretty exciting for us."

He also reportedly stated that Jaffe is expected to leave the company to make casual games, noting, "He's excited to go into the casual space as well. He's got some projects that he's excited about. So we're kind of going down two separate paths."

However, Jaffe explained via Twitter, "The rumors of me making casual games post TM - as many of you define them - are highly exaggerated."

[Update: Jaffe has now eleborated on his plans via Twitter, stating, "I have zero plans to make games like Farmville and Angry Birds. I never said what I was doing post TM (and I'm still on TM along with ESP for the next months as we launch it and balance it in real time and make sure it's a perfect game and continue to support it)."

"At the same time I will be opening a game studio here in San Diego because I really miss internal game development."

He then continued, "I was not laid off. I co-own the company. There were a few lay offs and they were very painful to do for all involved. I'm leaving because - again - games are just getting too big to direct from 300 miles away & I miss the day to day of working direct with a team."

He explained that he'll be leaving the company somewhere between 1.5-3 month's time, while adding that he'll be looking to develop "big, huge next gen game ideas I'd love for us to make, as well as cool stuff in the browser space" with his new company.]